Tag Archives: nutritious meal

Holiday donations have decreased this year to Resource Center Dallas’ HIV/AIDS food pantry, according to RCD spokesman Rafael McDonnell.

McDonnell told us this morning that the food pantry’s annual holiday donation drive, which began at Thanksgiving, is critical to providing clients with nutrition into the new year and through the winter.

“There will be less money to buy the groceries we need, which will mean potentially less selection and that kind of stuff,” McDonnell said. “I don’t know how much we’re off by. Obviously every bit that people contribute helps. The perception is the economy hasn’t gotten any better. The need is still there. The need doesn’t change.”

According to RCD’s annual holiday giving letter, here’s what even a small contribution to the food pantry can do:

• $30 provides vital, fresh food for a person living with HIV for an entire month. For $1.00 a day, your gift will provide groceries for a client from our food pantry – a mini grocery store in which clients fill their own baskets with a selection of dietician-monitored foods, empowering clients to make choices based on their own needs, likes and dietary requirements.

• $50 provides a daily hot meal for a person living with HIV for one month. For less than $1.70 a day, your gift will feed a client a nutritious meal – a salad bar filled with fresh produce, main course, two vegetables and a dessert – all prepared by the loving hands of Miss Doris and her loyal volunteers.

• $120 can feed a person living with HIV through the winter. For less than $1.00 a day, your gift will ensure that a member of our community has hot meals to keep them warm and sustain them through the coldest months of the year.

Also today, Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert’s chief of staff Chris Heinbaugh sends along word that Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is vying to win $1 million from Wal-Mart’s “fight hunger together” Facebook challenge. But Leppert, Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief and Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck need your help. The metropolitan area with the most Facebook “likes” by the end of the year wins the $1 million, with the next five each receiving $100,000. Right now, however, D-FW-Arl. is in 10th place.

While we’re not particularly big fans of Wal-Mart, Heinbaugh points out that if D-FW-Arl. wins, the beneficiary will be the North Texas Food Bank, which of course serves RCD’s food pantry. So you might as well go here and click “like,” then pass it along to all your friends.

Last week we reported that Resource Center Dallas’ food pantry for people with HIV/AIDS won’t be able to offer turkeys to its clients this Thanksgiving, due to increased demand and declining donations. However, it turns out the pantry will have at least 65 frozen turkeys to give out that were dropped off last Friday by folks from Dallas’ LGBT chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens. According to LULAC #4871 President Jesse Garcia, the turkeys were donated by the families of students at W.E. Greiner Middle School.

“I want to publicly thank Greiner Middle School and their assistant principal Macario Hernandez for donating much-needed protein to the Resource Center Dallas food pantry,” Garcia said. “This food pantry helps people of all ages from every part of the city who are affected by HIV. These clients have to deal with being sick and at times are unable to work. Some have to sacrifice between paying for their expensive medicine or affording a good meal. Greiner Middle School just made a big difference.”